Sheldon College fortifies its BYOD learning environment with Kramer VIA Collage

Background

Sheldon College is a private school located in the beautiful Brisbane Bayside area in Queensland, Australia. It caters to a wide-ranging student body starting from 15-month-olds up to grade 12. A state-of-the-art school, it boasts the latest technology infrastructure, business entrepreneurial suites, a modern library, resource centers, and more.

Over the years, Sheldon College has integrated industry facilities and training opportunities across the campus as part of its strategic vision and curricular priorities. One major curriculum-building project has been the construction of a truly collaborative learning precinct. Known as The Learning and Innovation for a New Queensland (LINQ) Precinct, it is designed to provide opportunities for collaboration across the curricular areas of Business and Enterprise, Computer Aided Design (3D Printing, Robotics, and Engineering), Film & Television, and Online Media Production.

Goals

Sheldon College was looking for a way to encourage collaborative thinking and enhance its students’ learning experiences in the new LINQ interdisciplinary facility. The goal was to make presenting and sharing content in the classroom easier and more efficient.

One of the principal challenges was compatibility with the school’s Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy for students, which has replaced traditional pen and paper. This means ideas are hashed out and classwork is now completed with multimedia.

“We needed a solution for the wireless connectivity of the students’ portable media devices,” says Julian Stirling, Design Manager for Integration Partners Australia, the Brisbane-based pro AV integrator that handled the project. The students’ devices include iOS and Android tablets, Windows and Mac notebooks, and laptops. With a variety of operating platforms and release versions, the system designers had a complex hurdle to overcome — until VIA Collage entered the picture.

The Solution

To help further collaborative classroom experiences in a BYOD environment, VIA Collage was installed in the LINQ facility.

VIA Collage was chosen as the solution by the integrator after comparing multiple products on the market. “We tested and evaluated a number of the leading brands of wireless collaboration systems, and VIA Collage was chosen as the best of its kind currently on offer,” Julian adds.

Integration Partners Australia and Sheldon College worked together to install the AV system for the new building. The building includes ten collaborative classrooms, a fully equipped TV production studio with satellite editing suites and a lecture theater that doubles as a digital 7.1 cinema and performing arts space. Outside the building is a huge video wall that showcases the learning activities happening inside. Several centralized Kramer VIA Collage units are integrated into the design and are available to all students as a shared resource.

Value

Since installation, VIA Collage has become an integral element of the LINQ facility.

This installation marked a shift from the traditional approach of the teacher’s PC projected in the classroom, to a more immersive collaborative environment. Students can now participate more interactively, sharing ideas and information with the class straight from their own devices, regardless of the brand or operating system.

This in turn is transforming how students learn and prepare for 21st-century work environments.

In addition to enhancing the learning experience, the new AV system has also proven reliable, easy to use, and cost-effective. As Julian summarizes, “We particularly liked the quality and responsiveness of the live video scaling, the ease of set-up, and use across all device platforms, the high build quality, and general affordability.”